Supreme Court asks for medical report of jailed Jagan Mohan Reddy critic

By LE Staff

New Delhi, May 18: The Supreme Court has sought a medical report into the condition of Kanumuri Raghurama Krishnnam Raju, a critic of Andhra Pradesh chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy. 

The MP from Narasapuram has been charged with sedition by the Reddy government. While seeking bail from the Supreme Court, he alleged custodial torture.

Though Raju is a YSRCP MP, a sedition case was slapped against him after he turned a vocal critic of the chief minister. He claims that the case was part of political vendetta. 

In a short order, a vacation bench of Justices Vineet Saran and B R Gavai directed  that Raju be examined by the medical board in Secunderabad’s Army hospital and hospitalised there, The Economic Times reported. The period in hospital would be treated as judicial custody, the court said.

The bench also directed that the medical examination be conducted by a “medical board of three doctors of the hospital to be constituted by the head of the Army Hospital… in the presence of a judicial officer, who may be nominated by the Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court”, The Indian Express reported.

Proceedings of the medical examination, the bench said, shall be videographed and submitted to the Registrar General of the Telangana High Court in a sealed cover to be passed on to the Supreme Court.

Raju said in his plea that he was tortured in custody after he underwent a recent bypass surgery. The apex court noted that the high court noted this, though he was denied bail. The High Court ignored his request for bail amid the pandemic and had asked him to approach the lower court.

Raju’s case was argued senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi who contended it had become fashionable to slap sedition against political opponents and critics.

Appearing for the state government, Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave said Raju be sent to the Army Hospital only for medical examination and not for treatment or hospitalisation. But the court rejected this and directed that the MP “shall be admitted in the Army Hospital and kept there for medical care until further orders, which shall be treated as judicial custody of the petitioner….”. It said expenses, if any, for hospitalisation shall be borne by Raju.

The court asked the Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary “to carry out this order forthwith and ensure that… Raju is taken to and reaches the Army Hospital, Secunderabad, Telangana today itself”.